Don't move - improve

If you don’t want to move - or can’t find a buyer - her are some DIY ideas that won't break the bank

When Justine Potts set up Market London, a renovation and interior-design service in 2006, the property market was booming and most of her clients were looking to move. For a fee, Potts, who has an architectural background, would tell them what to do to their homes to maximise the amount of money they would fetch. What a difference two years make.

"When I first launched the company, it was 100% people wanting to sell," says Potts. "Now it's 100% the other way round. Even when it comes to setting a budget, people are looking at how much they would have spent on stamp duty and legal fees to move and are spending that."

Recent statistics confirm the extent to which we are becoming a nation of improvers rather than movers. Between 2002 and 2006, nearly one in three homeowners moved house, according to figures from the Land Registry. This year,